San Marcos trying to find common ground before utility campaign

KATHERINE MARKS - Staff Writer

SAN MARCOS -- Delaying a special election on the city's utility
will give San Marcos one last shot at working out a truce with San
Diego Gas & Electric Co. before a political campaign that will
help shape the city's electric future, Vice Mayor Mike Preston said
Wednesday.

"Both sides have agreed to come up with a win-win solution
before we go to battle," Preston said, following a decision at
Tuesday's City Council meeting to postpone the special election
from June 8 to July 13.

SDG&E spokesman Scott Crider said, "At this point it's very,
very preliminary conversation. It's not construed as negotiations
by any means."

Regardless of the talks' outcome, voters will decide on a
right-to-vote initiative backed by SDG&E that would put strict
limits on how the city's 3 1/2-year-old municipal utility,
Discovery Valley Utility, could expand.

The city formed the utility in 2000 at the height of the energy
crisis. It serves no customers, but San Marcos has been negotiating
since December with Astrum Utility Services of Solana Beach to
serve energy customers in future developments, a plan SDG&E
officials oppose.

City officials have said the right-to-vote measure aims to
prevent the city from pursuing contracts such as the one it is
considering with Astrum. So the city is putting a competing measure
on the ballot that would give the city more freedom to develop its
utility. While the wording of the city's measure isn't final, it
would ask voters to support the existing City Charter and reaffirm
the city's right to form a local utility.

Preston and Councilman Lee Thibadeau met with SDG&E
officials Monday to try to find "common ground" before the
election, representatives of both sides said. City officials won't
say just what that common ground could be and refused to say what
either side would bring to the table.

Two years ago, the city rebuked the company's offer to help
expand the city's municipal utility if it abandoned efforts to
serve customers in future developments. And SDG&E has been
unwilling to negotiate a contract with the city to serve such
customers.

"If we find a solution, I'd expect them to back off (the
right-to-vote campaign)," Preston said.

He said the city only plans a 30-day window for such
meetings.

Thibadeau said both sides agreed to keep the meetings private.
"We've promised we will not do it in the newspapers. We'll do it
the right way," Thibadeau said. "Everything will be made public as
quickly as possible."

In the meantime, Thibadeau said he doesn't want meetings
sidetracked by people second-guessing.

SDG&E's Crider said after Tuesday's vote to postpone the
election that the company still supports the right-to-vote
initiative. "If the city wants to extend an invitation to have a
discussion we're willing to sit down," he said. "It's unclear
whether it will lead to anything," Crider said.

San Marcos resident Chris Orlando, a co-founder of the Citizens
for the Right to Vote group, said the city's willingness to
approach SDG&E is a sign that the deal it's working on with
Astrum may not be panning out. Orlando's group forced the
right-to-vote measure onto the ballot and has been financially
backed by SDG&E.

He said that the public should be able to play a part in
meetings regarding the future of the utility. "We need to have a
say in the process," Orlando said.

Orlando also said the talks show that the "political tide is
shifting in San Marcos." Voters overwhelming defeated a proposed
Wal-Mart in south San Marcos last week that was supported by
Thibadeau, Preston and Mayor Corky Smith. He said the three council
members may be worried about another political defeat.

"It's not all politically motivated," Thibadeau said.

However, Preston said that there may be political benefits to a
peaceful solution with SDG&E.

Preston said that the more "you can avoid too many divisive
issues in the city" the better. And he said avoiding a costly
campaign over the utility would mean more of a campaign chest for
Thibadeau's re-election campaign in November. Thibadeau's
supporters are expected to contribute to the utility campaign,
which the city can't contribute money toward.

Said Preston, "I'm of the mind we would win the DVU (Discovery
Valley Utility) battle and that would make Lee golden for
November."